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In Brief: October 14
In brief this week: Judith Viorst and Lane Smith at Books of Wonder; the return of Wordstock; the 10-year anniversary of 'Because of Winn-Dixie'; and a gallery featuring the artwork of five children's book illustrators.
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Seven Stories to Publish Simultaneous Adult/YA Book
When novelist, screenwriter, and poet Barry Gifford submitted a manuscript of 42 interlinked short stories to his longtime publisher, Dan Simon at Seven Stories, both Simon and the press’s publicist Ruth Weiner thought that their kids would enjoy it. Now Seven Stories is in the midst of readying Gifford’s Sad Stories of the Death of Kings (Oct.) for both children and adults.
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Three David Macaulay Books Relaunched
Published in 1973 and 1977, David Macaulay's Cathedral and Castle won Caldecott Honors for their crisp black-and-white line art and meticulous architectural detail. In 2003, the author added Mosque to his canon of books on monumental structures. This month, Houghton Mifflin publishes Built to Last, which brings together revised versions of the three books in a single volume.
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Riordan Debuts New Series in Austin
The Lost Hero, the first novel in bestselling author Rick Riordan's highly anticipated new series for middle-grade readers, Heroes of Olympus, was released to great fanfare on Tuesday, as Bookpeople in Austin, Tex. hosted what Riordan described last week as a "worldwide party."
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Galley Talk: 'A Tale Dark and Grimm'
Andrea Greenlee, children's bookseller at Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque, recommends a new story collection.
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'Ballet for Martha': Collaboration Breeds Collaboration
"Sometimes art is made by one artist, working alone, but sometimes it is the result of artists working together--collaborating--to forge something new." That's the opening passage of Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca. But the line also applies to the creation of the book itself.
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From Graeme Base, a Picture Book with a Different Look
Motivated by an ancient legend of a golden snail, Wilbur sets sail for the Ends of the Earth to find-—and finally liberate-—this creature in Graeme Base’s The Legend of the Golden Snail, just out from Abrams Books for Young Readers.
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In Brief: October 7
In brief this week: Sonia Sones's banned book; this year's Carle Honors; Gordon Titcomb and Wendell Minor's 'The Last Train'; Cinda Williams Chima on tour; and Ann Angel's launch party for 'Janis Joplin.'
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Little, Brown to Publish Official 'Twilight' Guide
Frankfurt is a long way from Forks, but that’s where Little, Brown Books for Young Readers announced the spring 2011 publication of Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, a full-color encyclopedic guide to the world of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Featuring both illustrations and photographs, it will offer character profiles, family trees, maps, outtakes, and an interview with Meyer.
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Three Words: Free Ice Cream
Lemony Snicket and Maira Kalman, author and illustrator of a new picture book, 13 Words, will meet their fans this weekend at an impromptu ice cream social at Cones, a West Village retailer of handmade ice cream and sorbet. The store will give out free ice cream to attendees, while Snicket, a.k.a Daniel Handler, and Kalman sign books sold through special-event retailer Mobile Libros.
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Penguin 'Times' Ad Defends 'Speak'
Responding to an attack by an associate professor in Missouri who called Speak "soft pornography," the Penguin Young Readers Group took out a full page ad in Thursday's New York Times to defend the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson.
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Wimpy Kid Balloon Joins Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will have a new star in its lineup. A giant balloon bringing the title character of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series to 3-D life will be among the 15 helium spectacles in the legendary parade.
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Getting in Bed with SIBA
One of the central images of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s 35th annual trade show, held from Sept. 23-25 at the Plaza Resort & Spa and Plaza Ocean Club Hotel in Daytona Beach, was a double bed placed near the registration booth. If after walking past the bed there were any doubt that the SIBA board and executive director Wanda Jewell are convinced that bookselling’s future depends on social networking, a nearby monitor displayed live tweets throughout the show.
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Russell Hoban Celebrates 50 Years of Frances
A half-century ago, Russell Hoban introduced a decidedly not sleepy young badger in Bedtime for Frances, which featured illustrations by Garth Williams. Picture book readers and their parents took an immediate shine to this feisty character...
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Galley Talk: 'Tyger Tyger'
Kenny Brechner, owner of DDG Booksellers in Farmington, Maine, gives word of a forthcoming fantasy novel, Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton.
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In Brief: September 30
In brief this week: the Baltimore Book Festival; 'Zombies vs. Unicorns' at Symphony Space; book events for Rich and Sandra Neil Wallace and Lisi Harrison; and a celebration of kids' books in Tarrytown, N.Y.
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In Brief: September 23
In brief this week: a 'Green Eggs and Ham' contest; author events for Kirby Larson, Liz Kessler, and Lesley M. M. Blume and David Foote; and the opening of a Walter Wick museum exhibit.
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Galley Talk: 'Annexed: A Novel'
Kathleen March, children's manager at Anderson's Bookshop in Downers Grove, Ill., praises a novel she initially picked up somewhat skeptically.
In her preface to Annexed: A Novel, Sharon Dogar writes, "Anne [Frank]'s diary is a vitally important part of our history." This is exactly why I approached Annexed with some hesitation. Could it do justice to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl? The answer is a resounding "yes." -
Bat-ter Up! Lies and His Bats Are Back
Summer may be over, but it's still baseball season—especially for the stars of Brian Lies's third Bats book, Bats at the Ballgame. The Houghton Mifflin picture book went on sale September 6, and has spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. As he has for previous books, Lies hit the road in his brand-new "BATSmobile," touring bookstores in Cape Cod and Maine before heading west for a September tour that took him to stores in Colorado, Arizona, and California.
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Dunkle Launches Virtual Tour for 'Wuthering Heights' Prequel
What was Heathcliffe like before he showed up in the pages of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights? Clare B. Dunkle gives readers an answer to that question in The House of Dead Maids, published last week by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Teen readers and Brontë aficionados can learn more about this prelude to the classic 19th-century novel, and the story behind its creation, by following the author’s 20-stop blog tour.
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